Mitchell Humphrey

New Jersey’s state government is set to make life safer for short-term renters. Regulations signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy will take effect soon. For property owners and landlords, those rules bring in requirements to carry higher levels of insurance. Municipalities are called upon to create landlord databases. Software packages like Mitchell Humphrey’s FastTrackGov (FTG) not only make compliance easy. They also have added benefits for municipalities in the state.

What the New Laws Mean for Landlords and Municipalities

The state of New Jersey is changing its rules and regulations for short-term rentals. A few months ago, Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill into law that will change how NJ-based landlords are handling insurance for short-term rental properties.

The new law not only changes the playing field for landlords but also affects municipalities. According to the new regulations, municipalities are also responsible for creating and maintaining a database of short-term rental properties within their community.

The state legislature’s goal is simple: the policymakers want to keep renters safe and protect them from potentially catastrophic costs arising from accidents. While some fear that the new law may lead to a hike in landlord insurance costs, the government is pointing to its advantages for renters.

How FTG Software Can Help

Current statistics show that a little over one-third of NJ citizens are renting their homes. As a result, larger municipalities may face a sizable task in creating and maintaining a short-term rental database. However, software platforms specifically designed for municipalities can help and make light work of complying with the new regulations.

Software products like Mitchell Humphrey’s FTG platform include all the capabilities that municipalities of any size need to comply with the new law. FTG allows municipalities to license the owners of short-term rental properties and maintain an overview of the types of properties within the town. The software also allows staff to draw analytics that can help inform municipal policies.

Put simply, the FTG Licensing Software Application gives your community and its rental owners a comprehensive yet simple, automated solution. Everything your employees and your landlords need can be accessed from one single portal. This FTG Connect Online Registration Portal is one of the key features of the software package.

As a result of implementing FTG, your community can process applications and ensure compliance with the new regulations quickly and efficiently. The software makes it easy to uphold community standards or even build a better community for all its citizens.

How Landlords Benefit from FTG

Landlords regularly need to apply for or renew their short-term rental license. Under New Jersey’s new rules, they also need to ensure that any rented properties are adequately insured.

FTG’s online portal allows landlords to complete applications without needing to make an appointment with a municipality employee. They can complete their applications and upload required documentation whenever it suits them, rather than being restricted by opening times.

Depending on individual circumstances, renewals may be processed in real time. For applications that take longer, FTG offers tracking technology. Landlords will be able to check the status of their application and see it progress through different stages of the licensing process. The approach helps landlords save time and increases transparency. In many municipalities, this type of access has built trust and improved relations between the community and its government.

Using software like FTG’s connect online registration portal streamlines interactions between citizens and municipalities and benefits both sides.

How Municipality Employees Benefit

Benefits for municipality employees can be summarized in one sentence: software packages like FTG simplify their work life. To truly understand the impact, however, it is worth looking at in more detail.

For NJ-based municipalities and their employees, compliance with the new law is one of the biggest obvious advantages of implementing this software. The new law not only states that New Jersey municipalities need to create and maintain a rental property database. The law also specifies that this database needs to be accessible digitally.

FTG complies with the New Jersey Governor’s mandate, giving municipalities the peace of mind that they are compliant while building a better community for their citizens.

Municipality employees benefit by gaining easy access to the current property information. Because the database is held digitally, storage is simple. Municipality workers can make updates in real time and maintain their data without additional effort. They can draw reports from the software, allowing community leaders to monitor progress or highlight weaknesses that need to be addressed.

FTG is integrated into the leading geographic information system (GIS) software, Esri. Esri technology provides unique location intelligence that can transform a city or town’s decision-making.

The portal also provides municipality employees with invaluable access to background knowledge, including local and state code ordinances. That means employees no longer need to search outside sources to access the latest laws applying to their community and their landlords.

Just as landlords can schedule inspections, so can municipality employees. They can also access the results of inspections and monitor ongoing or historic violations. This makes it easy to compile a full picture of the state of individual properties as well as assess the rental stock of an entire community. The platform enables its users to upload images and documents. This limits the potential for disputes arising from misunderstandings that could have been clarified with a simple image.

Municipality employees can also access property data through a secure mobile app. Having this type of ad-hoc access can be invaluable when an employee is in the field dealing with renter or landlord queries. They no longer need to delay their answer because all the information they may need is right at their fingertips.

Additional Benefits of the FTG Software Package

FastTrackGov enables municipalities to complete their digital transformation smoothly and at their own pace. The software not only promotes compliance and transparency when it comes to short-term rentals. If it is implemented across an entire municipality, it can streamline processes across departments, break down information silos, and transform how the community runs.

Software platforms like FTG build trust in communities because they are based on transparency. Checking the status of a licensing application online is straightforward. If there is a delay, the applicant can see the cause of that delay. For example, if an application is incomplete or requires clarification, the platform will show that.

At the same time, municipality employees can generate notification letters with a few mouse clicks. They save time and can achieve more within their working day without having to work harder. FTG allows municipalities to run smarter.

A Proven, Modular Software

We built FTG with communities like yours in mind. Our team understands that transitioning toward digitalization is a big step that can be daunting for communities. We also appreciate that implementing a large package in one step may not be feasible for every community.

That is why we have built our product in a manner that allows you to choose between modular implementation or a full transition. Both have their benefits. Modular implementation allows employees and citizens to become acquainted with the system gradually. Implementing the full package at once allows you to access all the benefits in one go.

Our team has been working with communities for decades. We work together to understand your requirements and the challenges you are facing, both economically and practically. Our solutions are trusted by hundreds of municipalities nationwide, and we are committed to improving not only the technology we provide but your experience with our products.

Talk to us today about how we can help you transform your community with FastTrackGov and the connect online registration portal. Our team is here for you.